Shoe lasting machines

ABSTRACT

A shoe upper conforming machine having side grippers movable widthwise from spaced locations into engagement with the sides of a shoe to locate the grippers automatically with respect to the upstanding margin of a shoe upper.

[50] FieldofSearch........................................ 12/82,10.1,10.5, 14.5

Wigston Fields;

[5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS George Millar, Leicester,both of England [21] Appl. No. 68,251

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ABSTRACT: A shoe upper conforming machine having side grippers movablewidthwise from spaced locations into engagement with the sides of a shoeto locate the grippers automatically with respect to the upstandingmargin of a shoe 50 ON n Ud Tmm 1 Lm m m mc CS S6U..m 4 N 1 w B5PATENTEU JAN 4 I972 SHEET 1 []F 4 in yen to re;

Frank HQI'fS/ZOIIZ Georye HIV/Q7 By the/rAttor/zey PATENTED JAN 4 I972SHEET 3 [1F 4 PATENTED JAN 4 I972 sum Mr 4 SHOE LASTING MACHINESBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates. to machines forshaping the heel end of a shoe upper about a last. In machines of thistype the upper is usually pulled lengthwise to tension the upper aboutthe heel end of the last before a heel band is applied to conform theupper about the heel end of the last and the margin of the upper iswiped inwardly over and secured to the shoe bottom. Such initiallengthwise tensioning is usually sufficient to provide a smooth heel endshape for shoes having relatively light upper material. However, it hasbeen found necessary when making shoes of heavier upper material toprovide additional means for tensioning the upper heightwise at thesides of the shoe. For this reason, side grippers have been provided insuch machines but such grippers usually interfere with placement of theshoe and require that the grippers be manually adjusted for shoe sizeand that the upper margin be guided into the open jaws.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improvedshoe upper conforming machine having side grippers which do notinterfere with placement of the shoe to be operated upon, which areautomatically located properly to grip the upper without manualadjustment or insertion. To this end, side grippers are provided whichinitially occupy positions spaced from the sides of the shoe so as notto interfere with the shoe placement. The grippers, while in opencondition, are moved toward the shoe from their initially spacedlocations until abutment portions of the grippers engage the sides ofthe shoe to align the grippers with the margin of the shoe upper. Thegrippers are then moved heightwise of the shoe into engagement with theshoe bottom with the upper margin automatically being inserted betweenthe open grippers. Thereafter, the grippers are closed on the uppermargin and moved heightwise to tension the upper about the last.

Other features of the invention, together with various noveldetails ofconstruction of one preferred embodiment of the invention, will not bedescribed with particular reference to the accompanying drawings andthereafter defined in the claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. I is a right-hand side elevation of a shoe conforming machineshowing a shoe support, a toe pincer arrangement, a side gripperarrangement, a hold down member and certain associated parts of anillustrative machine;

FIG. 2 is a view, looking in the direction of the arrow II in FIG. 1, ofthe side gripper arrangement, and parts associated with the toe pincerarrangement, some parts being broken away for the sake of clarity;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view with parts broken away (also looking in thedirection of the arrow II in FIG. 1) showing the side grippers pullingside marginal portions of a shoe upper mounted on a last, and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing parts of the toe pincer arrangementin operation on the forepart of the shoe upper.

A typical machine in which the invention may be embodied is shown inFIG. 1 and includes a heel seat lasting and backpart molding stationcomprising a shoe support provided by a jack post 2 having a last pin onwhich is placed a shoe last with an upper and insole assembled thereon.The last post is slidable heightwise in a sleeve assembly 4 fixed to asupporting member 6 which includes a tubular portion 8. The lower end ofthe jack post 2 is yieldably carried on a piston rod (not shown) of adiaphragm-type pneumatic motor 18 secured to the lower side of themember 6. The arrangement is such that a shoe carried by the jack isinitially yieldably supported with the heel seat surface of the insoleslightly above the plane of operation of heel seat wipers of anysuitable type with which the machine may be provided for wiping marginalportions of the upper inwardly across marginal portions of the insole.

A toe support comprising a V-shaped member 22 (FIGS. 1 and 2) isprovided for supporting the toe end portion of the assembled upper andlast, the V-shaped member also providing outer jaw portions 23 of a toepincer arrangement 24. The V- shaped member 22 is mounted for limitedheightwise movement on its support, such movement taking place againstthe action of a spring (not shown). When a last with assembled upper andinsole has been placed on the last pin 10 with the toe end portionresting in the V-shaped member 22, the operator depresses the forepartof the shoe and hence the V-shaped member, thereby closing an electriccircuit which allows a cycle of operations of the machine to beinitiated by depression of a treadle (not shown).

On depression of the treadle a hold down member 30 is advanced from aretracted position as seen in FIG. 1 to a position over the last pin 10and is also moved heightwise of the last to engage the hold down withthe heel'seat portion of the shoe. As it completes its heightwisemovement, the hold down moves the shoe downwardly against the action ofthe yieldable last post 2 to locate the insole at the proper level forthe inwiping operation of the heel seat wipers of the machine. Releaseof the treadle then causes jaws 28 of the toe pincer arrangement to gripthe upper at each side of the toe against the jaw portions 23 of theV-shaped member 22 and simultaneously to apply a toe hold down member 31against a toe end portion of the insole as best seen in FIG. 4. Thetoepincer arrangement 24 is then moved lengthwise of the last in adirection extending away from the toe end of the last .to pull the uppersnugly about the heel end portion of the last. For closing movement, thejaws 28 are formed on a lever 29 pivoted on a bracket 32 and connectedto the piston of a pneumatic cylinder 34. The toe hold down member 31comprises a stud carried for yielding movement against a spring 37 in anarm 33 secured by screws 35, to the lever 29. Altemately, it may bedesirable to provide for application of the hold down independently ofthe toe pincer closing and to this end a separate motor could beprovided. The bracket 32 and support for the V-shaped member 22 aresecured to the upper end of an am 36 which is pivoted at its lower endon a cross-shaft 38 mounted in a bracket 40. Also mounted on thecross-shaft 38 is a two-armed lever having an arm 42 adjustablyconnected with the arm 36 by a pawl and ratchet arrangement 46 to permitthe operator to adjust the lengthwise position of the toe pincerarrangement to suit shoes of different sizes. A stop screw 48 in thebracket 40 is arranged to engage a lug 50 extending from the lever tolimit the pulling action of the toe pincer arrangement. The arm 44 ofthe lever is connected to a piston rod 52 of a pneumatic cylinder 54carried by the bracket 40 to effect the pulling action.

To provide for heightwise and swinging adjustment of the toe support,and pincer arrangement with respect to the toe end of a shoe positionedon the jack post 2, the bracket 40 is slidably mounted in guidewaysprovided in guide portions 59 of a supporting member 60 which is alsoadjustably mounted on the sleeve assembly 4 for rotation abut the axisof the jack post. Such adjustments set the toe gripper correctly inaccordance with the so-called swing of the last of the shoe to beoperated upon. Opposed setscrews (one of which is shown at 61 in FIG. 1)in a portion 65 of the machine engage an upstanding lug 63 on thesupporting member 60 to determine the adjusted position of thesupporting member about the axis of the jack post. The heightwiseposition of the toe support and pincer arrangement is determined byadjustment of a rod 62 threaded at its lower end into a lug formed onthe supporting member 60 and held against axial movement by collarsengaging opposite sides of an arm 41 secured to the bracket 40.

After the upper is tensioned about the last by the toe gripper,depression of the threadle a second time initiates a second stage of thecycle of operations of the machine during which a pair of side gripperspulls the upper at opposite sides of the shoe heightwise about the last.The side grippers 160 each comprise a fixed jaw 162 (FIGS. 2 and 3)secured on a bracket 166 and a movable jaw 164 which is pivoted on a pin168 in the bracket. Each movable jaw 164 has an arm 170 with a slot 172which receives a pin 174 in a block 176 adjustably secured to a pistonrod 178 extending upwardly from a cylinder 180. The bracket I66 isadjustably secured to the upper end of the cylinder 180 by screws 182extending through slots 184 in a flange of the bracket. The arrangementis such that upward movement of the piston rod 178 swings the movablejaw about its pivot pin 168 in a direction to close the gripper jawsupon upper material located therebetween. As seen in FIG. 1 eachcylinder 180 is secured to a piston rod 186 extending upwardly from acylinder 188. The cylinder 180 is provided with a depending plate 187which slidably engages a flat face of the cylinder 188 to preventrotation of the gripper about the axis of the piston rod 186. Thecylinder 188 has a lug 190 pivoted on a pin 192 (FIG. 2) extendinglengthwise of the shoe and carried between bifurcated upper portions ofablock 194. The block 194 is pivoted on a bracket 198 by a pin 196 whichextends widthwise of the shoe, the bracket being secured to the guideportions 59 of the supporting member 60 by a plate 200 and screws 202,203. By pivotal movement on the pins 196 the two grippers 160 may beadjusted lengthwise of the shoe and by swinging movement about the pins192 the grippers may be moved widthwise of the shoe from initialpositions spaced apart from the shoe as seen in FIG. 2 to positions seenin FIG. 3 in which the open jaws of the grippers lie over upstandingmarginal portions of the upper of the shoe. In a cycle of operations ofthe machine the grippers 160 are located automatically widthwise of theshoe by engagement of abutment plates 202 secured to the brackets 166 byscrews 204 with the opposite side portions of the shoe as shown in FIG.3. The shoe engaging faces of the plates may be provided with a liningof material having a low coefficient of friction to avoid damage to theshoe upper material. For adjusting the grippers lengthwise of the shoeabout the pins 196, the plate 187 of each gripper is provided with aslot 240 (FIG. 2) which receives a headed stud 238 in a lug 236 of amember 232. The members 232 associated with both grippers are mountedfor widthwise sliding movements on a rod 210, adjustable collars 234 onopposite ends of the rod acting to limit the outermost positions of thegrippers as seen in FIG. 2. The rod 210 at its central portion iscarried by a sleeve 212 on upstanding arms 214 of a bell crank leverpivoted at 218 (FIG. 1) on a lug 220 of the bracket 40. Arms 216 of thebell crank lever carry a pin 222 in which an adjusting screw 224 ismounted for rotation and fixed against axial movement relative to thepin by collars. The lower end of the screw is threaded into a pin 226carried in a lug 230 upstanding from the bracket 40 so that rotation ofthe adjusting screw swings the bell crank lever to swing the grippers inunison lengthwise of the shoe about the pins 196. Each slide member 232has an upwardly extending lug 242. The lug 242 of the slide memberassociated with the right-hand gripper as seen in FIG. 2 carries a pin224 on which is pivotally mounted one end of a cylinder 246. A pistonrod 248 extending from the other end of the cylinder is secured to theupstanding lug 242 of the other slide member 232. Opposite ends of thecylinder 246 are connected to a pneumatic control circuit so that airunder pressure admitted to one end of the cylinder is efiective to movethe side grippers toward each other into engagement with opposite sidesof the shoe as seen in FIG. 3 while air admitted to the other end of thecylinder is effective to move the side grippers apart to the positionslimited by the collars 234 as seen in FIG. 2.

The control circuit for the various piston and cylinder arrangementsassociated with the side grippers is such that, during a stage of acycle of operations of the machine, air is admitted to the cylinder 246so as to cause the side grippers to swing inwardly toward the shoe fromtheir outwardly positioned inoperative positions. When the shoe engagingplates 202 engage the opposite sides of the shoe, pressure built up inthe circuit is effective to cause air under pressure to be admitted toupper ends of the cylinder 188, causing the grippers 160 to descenduntil the jaws 164 in open condition contact the insole of the shoe. Theupstanding margin of the upper being previously tensioned by the actionof the toe pincer is thus located between the open jaws of the grippers.Arresting the downward movement of the side grippers is effective tocause the control circuit to supply air under pressure to the lower endsof the cylinders to close the grippers on the margin of the upper. Whenthe upper has been securely gripped, the control circuit reverses thesupply of the pressured air to the cylinder 188, raising the grippers totension the upper about the last.

When the upper has been so tensioned about the last the operator mayrelease the treadle to initiaTe the third stage of a cycle of operationsof the machine. At this time a wiper and heel band assembly (not shownbut of any commonly known type) is advanced from retracted to operativeposition. The heel band is closed and clamped about the heel end of theshoe, a charge of adhesive is expelled, from a nonle member 118 of thehold down 30, on to the marginal portions of the in sole. Thereafter thewipers advance and close to wipe marginal portions of the upper inwardlyacross the insole. The hold down member 30 then is retracted and thejackpost 2 is thrust upwardly, by action of the motor 18, to cause themarginal portions of the upper to be bedded for a predetermined timeagainst the wipers while the adhesive sets.

With the upper tensioning arrangement of the illustrative machine itwill be understood that the upper is not only tensioned lengthwise ofthe last to pull the backpart of the upper closely against the last, butit also is pulled heightwise at opposite sides of the shoe to ensurethat the upper is pulled well down to the last substantially as in aconventional pulling over operation. This is likely to ensure that theupper is well shaped to the last and is likely to be of particularbenefit in operating on relatively heavy uppers such as in the case ofmens shoes. However, it may well be of advantage in operating on certaintypes, at least, of women's shoes, particularly in the case of styleshaving relatively high heels.

It should be understood that the foregoing describes one preferredembodiment of the invention and that various parts and equivalentmechanisms could be substituted for those shown without departing fromthe scope of the invention defined by the following claims.

Having thus described our invention what we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a shoe upper confonning machine having a support for holding ashoe comprising an upper loosely assembled on a last with the margin ofthe upper upstanding beyond the last bottom along opposite sides of theshoe, the improvement comprising grippers arranged at opposite sides ofthe shoe on the support, means for moving the grippers widthwise of theshoe from initial positions spaced from the shoe to positions in whichabutment portions of the grippers engage opposite sides of the shoe tolocate the grippers spaced heightwise from the shoe bottom and alignedwith the upstanding margin of the upper, means for moving the locatedgrippers heightwise toward the shoe bottom until onejaw of each gripperengages the shoe bottom with said margin disposed between said one jawand another jaw of each gripper, means for closing said jaws on theupper margin after said engagement with the shoe bottom, and means forcausing said heightwise gripper moving means to move the closed grippersaway from the shoe bottom for tensioning the upper about the last.

2. A machine according to claim 1 in which said other jaw of eachgripper is fixedly aligned with the abutment portion of each gripper andsaid one jaw engageable with the shoe bottom is movable from opencondition during engagement with the shoe bottom to closed condition togrip the upper margin against said other jaw.

3. A machine according to claim 1 in which the jaws of said grippers areopen and spaced heightwise from the shoe bottom and upstanding uppermargin during the widthwise movement of the grippers.

4. A machine according to claim 1 in which said gripper abutmentportions engageable with the sides of the shoe are provided withsurfaces having a low coefficient of friction to avoid damage to theupper during heightwise movement of the grippers.

kit

ment.

6. A machine according to claim 5 in which the forepart support includesfirst jaws engaging one surface of the fore' part of the upper and themember cooperating with said forepart support is mounted on movable jawswhich cooperate with the first jaws to grip the forepart of the uppermargin.

1. In a shoe upper conforming machine having a support for holding ashoe comprising an uppeR loosely assembled on a last with the margin ofthe upper upstanding beyond the last bottom along opposite sides of theshoe, the improvement comprising grippers arranged at opposite sides ofthe shoe on the support, means for moving the grippers widthwise of theshoe from initial positions spaced from the shoe to positions in whichabutment portions of the grippers engage opposite sides of the shoe tolocate the grippers spaced heightwise from the shoe bottom and alignedwith the upstanding margin of the upper, means for moving the locatedgrippers heightwise toward the shoe bottom until one jaw of each gripperengages the shoe bottom with said margin disposed between said one jawand another jaw of each gripper, means for closing said jaws on theupper margin after said engagement with the shoe bottom, and means forcausing said heightwise gripper moving means to move the closed grippersaway from the shoe bottom for tensioning the upper about the last.
 2. Amachine according to claim 1 in which said other jaw of each gripper isfixedly aligned with the abutment portion of each gripper and said onejaw engageable with the shoe bottom is movable from open conditionduring engagement with the shoe bottom to closed condition to grip theupper margin against said other jaw.
 3. A machine according to claim 1in which the jaws of said grippers are open and spaced heightwise fromthe shoe bottom and upstanding upper margin during the widthwisemovement of the grippers.
 4. A machine according to claim 1 in whichsaid gripper abutment portions engageable with the sides of the shoe areprovided with surfaces having a low coefficient of friction to avoiddamage to the upper during heightwise movement of the grippers.
 5. Amachine according to claim 1 in which said support comprises a postsupporting the heel end of the last, a member cooperative with said postand engaging the bottom of the heel end of the shoe to hold the heel endof the shoe against heightwise movement, a forepart support carrying theforepart of the shoe and a member cooperating with said forepart supportand engageable with the bottom of the forepart of the shoe to hold theforepart of the shoe against heightwise movement.
 6. A machine accordingto claim 5 in which the forepart support includes first jaws engagingone surface of the forepart of the upper and the member cooperating withsaid forepart support is mounted on movable jaws which cooperate withthe first jaws to grip the forepart of the upper margin.